“You think he’ll stop looking?”
“None of them will.” From the look on Mom’s face, she agreed.
He couldn’t die. Not here. Not like this. Thanks to Jack Landers, there was another out.
“Don’t kill him,” I was reduced to whispering. “Erase him. Make him forget. He won’t be a threat to you anymore.”
She crooked a finger at the cabin. Someone had been inside the whole time. Listening. Watching.
Poe. Smiling at my mother.
Dune
I wanted to rip out Poe’s heart and throw it and him to the bottom of the Mississippi. I hoped my face showed just how much. He was grinning, his posture relaxed.
A sharp whistle sounded on the other side of the deck. The moorings were stowed, and the riverboat pulled away from the dock. Poe’s eyes stopped for one second on the veil that hung downriver as he walked toward Teague.
Hallie tensed in my arms as he passed, and I held her tighter.
“Well?” Poe stopped in front of Teague and crossed his arms over his chest. “You called your dog; he came.”
“There are four members of the Hourglass in New Orleans. Hallie believes they’ll look until they find her. You need to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Now?” Poe asked. “Or can I eat first?”
“How can you do this? Joke about it?” Hallie’s voice broke. “Less than twenty-four hours ago, you were trying to—”
“Trying to what? Get in your pants? Oh no, wait. You’re always the one trying to get in mine.”
“Shut up.” The growl came from deep in my chest, and my fists ached for Poe’s face. “You apologize. Right now, you son of a—”
“It’s okay.” Hallie put her hand on my arm.
“No, it isn’t,” I argued, but I dialed down the testosterone.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Hallie asked Poe. She had to raise her voice to be heard over the now churning paddle wheels. “You’re supposed to be my best friend.”
“Sweetheart, I’m your only friend. And what a sorry pair we are. Or were,” he said, giving me the once-over. “As the case may be. Seems you’ve gone tropical.”
I just smiled. He could insult me all he wanted, but if he breathed too close to Hallie, I was going to take him out.
“There’s nothing wrong with me, Hallie. I survive. Good or bad, right or wrong, your mother is my best chance. It’s not as bad as all that, is it? At least we’ll be together.” Turning to Teague, he said, “You want me to take out four, yeah?” He leaned over and slid his knife out of his boot.
Hallie shuddered.
Teague smiled. “All four.”
“Who’s here?”
“Kaleb, Lily, Michael, and Emerson.”
“If I’d known I had to do Emerson again I’d have left her dead the first time I killed her.” He turned away from Teague and walked toward the cabin, saluting us with his knife. “Not like I’ve ever been a hero to anyone, anyway. Least of all to you, Hallie.”
And then he winked.
Hallie squeezed my forearm, but her expression didn’t change. Poe hadn’t switched sides. He was still on ours.
I looked downriver. We were still in line with the veil, the current following my subconscious bidding.
“You’ve taken care of the Hourglass,” Hallie said. “What are you going to do about those?”
Teague looked toward the ever-growing population of rips. “Lots of room for history on a riverboat. Especially one this old.”
Everything from Mark Twain types in white suits to tipsy senior citizens took up residence on the deck. I begged the heavens for a repeat of the rip in the park—that Hallie and Teague together would confuse the possession process.
My prayers were answered. The rips switched focus between Hallie and Teague. The riverboat chugged toward the veil. I wanted to boost the river flow, but I didn’t know where Poe was, or how he planned on getting Teague where she needed to be. I would have to wait.
The rips didn’t want to.
“Look at them.” Hallie began to tremble. “They know who they want.”
The rips moved in one accord, approaching Hallie at the same rate the riverboat approached the veil. I put my body between them, as if I could hide her from fate, but this time we couldn’t run.
I wanted to call out for Poe, but I didn’t want to tip Teague off about his allegiance, especially if something happened to me and Hallie was left on the boat with him. I looked over my shoulder. Too much was happening at once.
“Stay as close to me as you can,” I said over my shoulder to Hallie.
Her breathing sped up. “If I go to them, she can’t use me. She won’t have any reason to hurt you or anyone else.”
The rips were ten feet away.
The veil was fifteen.
“Hal, don’t be reckless.” Where was Poe?
“It’s true, isn’t it, Mother? You don’t want to lose the Infinityglass, but you’re afraid of the rips. What did you see when you were with them last? How did you manage to get away?”
Teague tore her gaze from the rips, which were now two feet away from Hallie.
The veil was right behind them.
I couldn’t hold back the current any longer.
“Poe!” I tried to rein in the power of the water.
He burst out of the cabin with the knife in his hand.
“Throw it!” I roared. “Now!”
It left his hand in less than a second, tumbling end over end.
I set the current free.
Chapter 27
Hallie
The rips were coming for me, their pull terrifying and seductive. Impossible to resist.
The veil floated a few tantalizing feet away from my mother, but even though she had her own exotic matter, she didn’t have duronium. Going with them was our only out. I’d just have to have faith that I’d come out on the other side.
And then Dune bellowed Poe’s name.
His knife flew through the air, slicing its way into my mother’s shoulder at the same time the veil swallowed her whole. She stumbled, gagging violently and clutching her head, her eyes rolling back.
As one, the rips swiveled their focus toward her.
Mother flew into the air as if jerked by an invisible string. Once there she floated, parallel to the ground. I would remember the look on her face for the rest of my life. Tears of furious defeat, and eyes wide with terror.
That’s when I realized this possession was different.
Because she was still in the veil. Dune was holding the current steady.
Her body absorbed the rips, and not just their faces. Their bodies, too. We watched as they consumed her. Witnessed her skin melt away, heard her bones break, as she assumed each form.
Every single rip on the boat entered the veil, one by one, reshaping my mother into their images as they did. When they were gone, there was a flash of light and a terrible ripping sound. One keening scream.
Darkness devoured it all, including the veil, leaving behind nothing but the steady sound of paddle wheels churning up the Mississippi.
I stared at the empty air.
I wanted to feel sorry, feel something, but I was numb. Dune put his hand on my arm. “Hallie?”
Then Poe was in front of me, reaching out.
The consequences of one simple touch registered a second before it could happen.
“Stop!” I threw myself against the rail. “Don’t touch me, either of you. Not until I get this necklace off.”
How long would I have to worry about accidentally killing someone I loved?
“She made sure it wasn’t going to come off easily. Fire’s the only thing that’s going to get through it.” Poe held up his hands. “If you want, I can take care of that.”
“Please.” I voiced my other concern. “When will the duronium be out of my system?”
“It shouldn’t take long, especially with your metabolism. You’ll burn it off. Be right back.”
&nbs
p; Dune reached for me. In that second, I needed him to touch me more than I needed air in my lungs, but the fear of what I could’ve done by touching him or Poe weighed heavily.
“Just me,” he said. “I’ll move the second Poe comes back on deck.”
I threw myself into his arms, burying my face in his chest, squeezing his waist. Safe. Solid. My anchor.
“I don’t think she’s coming out of the veil,” I whispered, looking up at him.
The unusual sadness in his eyes told me he agreed. “I’m sorry for my part in it. I didn’t know what would happen, but I wasn’t expecting that. I can’t stop thinking that it could’ve been you, Hallie. It could’ve been you.”
“I know.” My mother had been an unwilling sacrifice. That was going to take years to unpack, and trying to deal with it now was pointless. I would focus on the present. “Is everyone okay? Carl—”
“He was on his way to the hospital, and everyone else is fine.”
Poe exited the cabin and conferred with one of the ship hands.
When he turned toward us, Dune let me go and took a step back.
“We’re headed back to shore.” Poe held up a tiny blowtorch. “Ready?”
“I’ll check in with Michael,” Dune said. “Be right back.”
“Stay where I can see you.” I sounded like his mom instead of his girlfriend, but I didn’t care. Was I his girlfriend? The word seemed too simple.
Dune nodded. I should’ve known he’d understand.
“I’m sorry, Hallie.” Poe shoved his free hand in his jeans pocket. “I don’t know what else to say.”
“How did you end up here?”
“Your dad asked for my help. That’s why I was on the boat. When you made him promise not to come straight home, he called me. Thank God Teague still thought I was on her side.”
I couldn’t stop looking at the place she’d been standing when she disappeared. “He was right to send you. I’ll have to tell him she’s dead.”
“Don’t think about it now.”
“I’ll think about it every day for the rest of my life.” I nodded at the blowtorch. “Ready?”
He fired it up. It looked like the kind chefs used to burn the sugar on crème brulees.
“Hold the pendant and use it to lift the chain. It’s going to get hot.”
I shuddered when Poe slipped a finger between the necklace and my skin.
“And Hallie, I didn’t mean anything I said. You know that, yeah?”
“I do.”
“I’m glad you two found each other, jealous even, except for the circumstances. Your grandchildren will never tire of the stories.”
The hiss of the blowtorch kept me from any commentary. The chain was unbearably hot, and the second I felt it give, I jerked it off my neck. “Thank you.”
“Least I could do.” Poe gave me a quick kiss on top of the head and disappeared into the cabin.
“What are you going to do with it?” Dune slid his phone back in his pocket and leaned against the railing.
“Get rid of it.” It was about an inch and a half long, with flower detailing, and an empty setting meant for a stone. Morning sunlight shone off the metal and I caught a hint of shadow. “It’s two pieces. Should I open it?”
“If you want to.” He nodded and took a step closer. “Just be careful.”
I twisted the top of the cylinder. It gave a little, so I applied more force. The lid came off. “There’s something inside.”
Shaking, I emptied the contents into my palm. An hourglass, no bigger than a safety pin. It hummed against my skin.
Dune stared at it for a long moment before meeting my eyes.
“Mom implied I needed this to transfer abilities. I believe you’re looking at the result of your quest,” I whispered.
“No.” He shook his head. “My quest led me to you.”
I slid the hourglass back into its secret home and replaced the lid.
“You sure you don’t want it?” I dangled the pendant from the chain, studying his face.
“I already have everything I want.”
I kissed him, long and hard. Together we walked to the boat railing.
I balled the chain and pendant up, made a wish, and threw them both into the Mississippi.
Dune, March
I met her in front of Saint Louis Cathedral. “Hurry!” Hallie dragged me across Jackson Square. “They’ve been waiting for twenty minutes already.”
“I told you I forgot my wallet and had to go back to the apartment. This is way different from the first time you saw them.”
“Heck, yeah! We’re planning a trip to Hawaii.” She tugged on my hand a little harder. “I’m excited, and you’re as slow as molasses.”
“You’re on the phone or video chat with Em or Lily every day, and you have been for the past three months. We didn’t decide on Hawaii until last week. What were you all talking about all the other times?”
“Hush.”
She silenced me with a kiss, but I started up again as soon as it was over.
“You didn’t give in and tell them about your Newcomb acceptance, did you?” I asked.
“No. Did you tell them about Tulane?”
“Nope.” Just Liam, but he didn’t count, since the information had been part of my resignation letter. He’d given the school transfer and my new job his full blessing. Things were about to change at Chronos.
“Rip alert.” Hallie squeezed my hand. “A pirate, I believe. At four o’clock. Do you see him?”
I searched the crowd. “I don’t.”
“Good.”
Liam, Grace, Michael, and Emerson claimed the rips were back to normal, at least as normal as they’d ever been. Hallie could still see them, but only one at a time, and they only noticed her if she approached them directly.
I wasn’t done with the Skroll. There were still more passages to translate. After the continuum calmed down, we’d learned that an Infinityglass had the power to return individual rips to their places in time.
“Still want to try to send one back?” I asked.
“Eventually.” She gave me a shoulder bump. “But not today. You ready to steer a cruise ship with your mind?”
“I’m willing to walk on the beach with you, but only if you hold my hand.”
“Deal.” She turned to face me, raised up on her toes.
It didn’t mater that we were on the sidewalk, in full view and in the way of locals and tourists alike. When our lips touched, I was lost to everything but her.
“Dune! Dune!” I heard my name and pulled away from Hallie. We both scanned the crowd this time.
“Nate!” He was racing across Jackson Square, faster than he should be, as usual. I didn’t even attempt to be cool. A man hug and a few back slaps later, I heard Hallie clear her throat.
“I see you there.” Nate’s grin had cheeky written all over it as he turned toward her. “I thought my bestie was exaggerating when he told me how sexalicious you are in person. I thought you were a hottie through a computer screen.”
“Nate,” I warned. “I did not use that word.”
“I think I need details of this conversation,” Hallie said.
“Wouldn’t take very much to persuade me to give them to you.”
“Stop. Now.” I tried for stern, but my face gave me away. “I’ll tell my secrets when I’m ready.”
“I’m Nate.” He held out his hand. “And I know all his secrets, in case you’re ready before he is.”
“I’m Hallie. When do I get to see your dance moves?”
“B-boy. More tricks than moves.” He did a couple, and the crowd around us applauded. Show-off.
“Maybe we can trade knowledge on that, too,” Hallie said, after Nate finished taking his bows.
“Let’s cut Dune out of the picture completely. Run away with me, and we’ll live off the tips people put in our upturned fedoras.”
Hallie laughed, wide open, and I watched Nate fall in love. I couldn’t blame him.
&
nbsp; “Okay, kids, let’s go. Everyone’s waiting. Betcha can’t keep up.” He took off.
“We can try.” Hallie grabbed my hand.
When we reached Café du Monde, we found Em, Michael, Kaleb, Lily, Nate, Ava, and Poe at an outside table. All seven of them were covered in varied amounts of powdered sugar.
“You’re here!” Em dropped her beignet but held on to her coffee as Hallie hugged her. Lily, less sugary than everyone else, was next.
Once they’d settled down, I pointed to the only girl still seated. “This is Ava.”
“Hi, Ava.” Hallie knew about Ava’s past with Jack. She’d been the one to insist that Nate and Ava be a part of the Hawaii trip, claiming everyone who’d been affected by him deserved a vacation. “I heard you dance, too. Pointe?”
“Mostly contemporary.” Ava’s hands twisted in her lap, and she looked like she didn’t know what to do once the words were out.
“You know, I love contemporary.” Hallie took the empty seat next to Ava. “You’ll have to come to my studio for a dance play date. If that doesn’t sound lame.”
“It doesn’t. It sounds like … fun.” An Ava smile was a rare thing, but Hallie scored one. A few short months ago, Hallie had been the quiet girl at the table. Now she was taking the initiative to draw Ava out.
Kaleb cleared his throat, redirecting the conversation, probably to spare Ava. “My dad says hello, and ‘sends his regrets’ for the Hawaii trip. Mom’s at ninety-nine percent, and he’s not willing to risk the remaining one. Neither am I, and not just so I can take Lily for long walks on the beach without supervision.”
Lily rolled her eyes, but followed up with a kiss to Kaleb’s cheek.
“Down two chaperones.” Nate gave a fist pump. “I like it.”
“No,” Em said. “Down four. Dru’s doctor doesn’t want her to travel, so she and Thomas are staying home so she can rest up before her due date next month.”
Michael and Emerson exchanged a look that wasn’t hard to decode. Endless, unelectrified nature in Hawaii meant a lot of opportunities for two people who couldn’t touch without setting off sparks.
“I think as long as we avoid wayward tiki idols and hungry sharks, we’ll be fine.” Michael swiped the last beignet from the paper plate on the table. “Now we just have to talk plane tickets.”
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